The Carmi-White County Bulldogs let a halftime lead slip through their fingers Tuesday night, falling to NCOE on the road by a final score of 51–41. After controlling much of the first half and taking a 26–19 advantage into the locker room, Carmi unraveled in the third quarter and couldn’t recover.
The Bulldogs actually started strong, leading 13–8 after the opening period behind some good shots and a steady defensive effort. But everything changed after halftime. NCOE’s full-court pressure completely flipped the momentum, forcing turnover after turnover as Carmi struggled to get the ball into the front court. The Fighting Cardinals outscored Carmi 17–4 in a disastrous third quarter that saw the Bulldogs lose all rhythm offensively.
By the time the buzzer sounded to end the period, NCOE led 36–30, and the Bulldogs never regained control.
Turnovers told the story all night. Carmi coughed the ball up 28 times, repeatedly giving NCOE extra possessions and quick opportunities in transition. Shooting woes didn’t help either. The Bulldogs finished 14-of-40 from the field and just 2-for-18 from beyond the arc. Despite solid early execution, the mistakes proved too heavy to overcome.
“We just turned it over too much. They could feel us getting tight when they pressed us, and we were throwing it all over the gymnasium,” said CWC Head Coach Kevin Wolff.
Merick Milhorn led the way with 14 points, while Dylan Winerberger added 9. Hayden Sauls scored 6, Kyzen Edwards finished with 5, Jaxon Bradshaw chipped in 3, and Justus Tauiliili and Lex Day each scored 2.
With the loss, Carmi drops to 0–5 on the season. The Bulldogs will look to clean up the turnovers and regroup quickly as they travel to Flora on Friday for their first conference game of the year.